ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – Cal Jennings and Louis Perez have been named United Soccer Coaches (USC) All-America for the 2018 season announced Thursday.
Jennings was named to the First Team, while Perez was named to the Third Team. This is the first time since 1982 that the program had two All-Americans in one season and the first time ever since becoming a Division I program in 1984. The duo marks the 11th and 12th players in program history to be named All-America.
“It’s great to see both Cal and Louis receive recognition for their performance this season,” said head coach Scott Calabrese. “Both of these young men are amazing ambassadors of UCF and our soccer program and I am so happy for them.”
Both Jennings and Perez have taken home a plethora of awards this season including USC All-East Region First Team honors this week. The duo was named to the American Athletic Conference First Team All-Conference list and each took home a major award in The American as Jennings was named Offensive Player of the Year and Perez was named Midfielder of the Year. Throughout the season, Jennings and Perez took home a combined five Offensive Player of the Week awards from The American.
Jennings was also awarded National Player of the Week by College Soccer News after scoring his third hat trick of the season against FGCU and scoring in the first minute against USF just four days later. Jennings is also a MAC Hermann Semifinalist, the most prestigious individual award in college soccer, which is presented annually to the most outstanding male and female players of the year.
The junior has been grabbing national attention all season. He led all of Division I in shots per game with 5.56 and was second throughout the season in total goals, assists, and points.
The Georgia native scored 20 goals in 18 matches this season, with four assists for a total of 45 points. He netted hat tricks against Liberty, Stetson, and FGCU this season helping his team to their first regular season title in The American.
Jennings also led The American in almost every offensive category and broke the conference record for most goals and most points registered in a single season.
In UCF program history, Jennings is now fourth in goals scored in a single season (20), and fourth in most points (45), while shattering the shots record with 100 shots this season. In his UCF career, Jennings is now sixth all-time in goals scored with 29 and tied for eighth in UCF program history in points with 71.
Perez was the commander of the pitch for the Knights as a holding midfielder, setting the tone for the squad. He notched three goals and five assists for 11 points in over 1,400 minutes.
The France native was the backbone and natural leader for the team making crunching tackles, only falling into the official’s book twice.
Perez scored the game winner in the final regular season game that gave the Knights the win over Cincinnati for a share of the regular season title and home field advantage for the conference tournament.
The 2018 Knights completed one of their best seasons in program history. They finished with an overall record of 13-3-3 and a record of 5-1-1 in the American Athletic Conference. Since becoming a Division I program, this is the third-best record the Knights have garnered.
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